The invention relates to a storage box for CDs, computer disks, cassette tapes and like mass information carriers, comprising a box part, at least one drawer part, and spring means and locking means associated with the or each drawer part, the or each drawer part being arranged for receiving the mass information carrier and being slidably receivable, via a drawer opening, in the box part, the spring means associated with the or each drawer part being arranged for pressing the relevant drawer part into an at least partially opened position, the locking means associated with the or each drawer part being arranged for holding the relevant drawer part in a closed position against the action of the spring means; the box part, the drawer part, the spring means and the locking means all being manufactured in an injection molding process, at least partly from synthetic material, the box part being manufactured from at least one molded part, the drawer part being manufactured from one molded part, the spring means and the locking means forming an integral part of one or more of the molded parts mentioned and hence being formed integrally with these molded parts during the injection molding process, the locking means forming an integral part of both the molded part comprising the drawer part and the at least one molded part comprising the box part.
Such storage box is known from international patent application WO 87/05884. On page 11, lines 27-32 of this publication, it is described that the spring 86 can be an integral part of the drawer part or the box part. Hence, from this publication, a skilled person may learn that the number of parts of which the storage box is manufactured, can be limited by designing the spring as an element formed integrally with the molded parts. The drawings of this publication directly make it clear that this also holds for the locking means.
A drawback of the known publication, however, is formed by the construction of the locking means. The drawer part of the known storage box can only be opened with one hand when a single storage box is taken in the hand. When a box located in a stack is to be opened, the left-hand side of the stack should be freely accessible for operating the locking means. In practice, however, usually more stacks of storage boxes are disposed side by side. Under those circumstances, the known storage box can only be opened when the storage box is removed from the stack. This is particularly inconvenient.
European patent application EP-A-0 568 729 discloses another storage box. The drawback of the construction known from that publication is that it consists of a large number of parts, to be manufactured separately. After the manufacture of these separate parts, the different parts of the storage box have to be assembled, which operation can be performed only manually. The manufacture of the large number of separate parts and the assembling operations have as a consequence that the cost price of the known box is too high, on which account it has not found widespread application in the market. Another drawback of the known box is that the unlocking means are operated by a separated unlocking button which occupies a considerable amount of space next to the drawer part. Not only does this disturb the outward appearance of the storage box, but the storage box is moreover considerably larger than the dimensions of the mass information carrier to be stored would require.